1. Field
The disclosed subject matter relates to automobile body-in-white painting. More particularly, the disclosed subject matter relates to jigs for connecting a part to be painted with a body to be painted in an on-line process for automobile body-in-white painting.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Automobile manufacturers conventionally perform automobile body-in-white painting in an on-line process. Such an on-line process typically includes an electrodeposition coating (“E-coat”) via a dip or bath, E-coat curing, primer application, primer curing, a base/clear coat application, and/or top coat curing. The bodies and/or parts painted via this process require an ability to withstand extremely high heat conditions, for example, approximately 200° C. In addition, some conventional processes include an electrostatic paint process for certain parts such as, for example, fuel filler doors, requiring conductivity and electrical grounding of these parts.
Recent technologies have enabled some plastic parts to pass through the same on-line and electrostatic paint processes as conventional bodies-in-white. Such plastic parts are often attached to the body-in-white using an all plastic jigging fixture. The use of all plastic minimizes concerns related to differing thermal expansion rates between varying materials, for example, steel and plastic. However, the use of all plastic jigging fixtures introduces a large amount of scrap and waste into the process because such plastic jigging fixtures are generally not reusable and must be discarded after one use. By contrast, a metal jig can be continuously recycled, with excess paint build-up being removed from time to time.
Since plastic and metal parts have dissimilar rates of thermal expansion and contraction, when both plastic and metal are exposed to the same temperature conditions, the plastic part will generally expand and contract (when heated and cooled, respectively) at a significantly higher rate than the metal component. If the plastic and metal parts are joined together, as in the case of a jigging fixture for on-line painting, these expansion and contraction variances can induce high stresses in the parts and possibly lead to part deformation and/or cracking.
It may be desirable to provide a jig, or connector, for connecting a part to a body-in-white for an on-line painting process, where the jig is partly plastic and partly steel. It may be desirable that such a “hybrid” plastic and steel jig minimize the effect of expansion and contraction variations between the two materials. It may be desirable for the jig to provide an electrical ground of the part during an electrostatic coating process.